Blossom time

 Mayow Park is at peak spring blossom time. Cherry blossom, hawthorn, fruit tree blossom. We mustn't forget the wild flowers including dandelions, cuckoo flower, daisies, forget-me-not and lesser celandine. All of these provide pollen for bees and other insects that fly from flower to flower. 

Here are some photos from today in the park.

The pink cherry blossom on the ornamental cherry trees - a joy to behold. They have lined the path edge below with their pink petals.

Nearby the hawthorn bushes are showing off their blooms

A short stroll to the orchard for the apple and quince blossoms

At ground level there are wild flowers to attract pollinators too:

cuckoo flower

daisy

dandelion

Forget-me-not

lesser celandine

Come and visit while the park is blooming.

All photos: A Sheridan

11th April Bat walk

 We were lucky as the bat walk took place on a warm, dry evening,  a perfect night for bats to hunt and feed on flying insects. We had hopes of seeing bats and we were not disappointed.

We had permission to take people around Mayow Park starting at dusk and the gates were kept open till the walk finished.

Iain Boulton, our bat expert, gave an introduction about bats in general, about bats in the UK and pipistrelle bats in Mayow Park specifically. 

One of the FOMP committee had drawn a diagram showing how bats have 5 fingers, the thumb at the top and four that connect to their wings. Bats are the only mammal that can truly fly.

Iain showed how to use a bat detector to 'hear' pipistrelles, our local bats. He explained that to 'hear' bats we tune the bat detector to the best listening frequency for the type of bat. For common pipistrelles we set the detector to around 50kHz

Most of the visitors didn't have a bat detector but Iain brought some to lend out. 

It wasn't long before we heard the bats (using the detectors) and saw them flying around catching  insects in the air. The moon looked down on us through the trees.

It was a wonderful evening. 

As people left to go home, many gave us donations and we were able to donate £37 to the Bat Conservation Trust.

All photos; A Sheridan

Litter pick - a great success

 The weather was perfect for a litter pick in Mayow Park, sunny and dry.

This event in Mayow Park was organised by Pippa from Friends of Mayow Park (FOMP) and Alice from Climate Action Lewisham (CAL) as part of the annual national  Great British Spring Clean by Keep Britain Tidy.

Park users came to help prompted by Pippa's publicity poster on the park gates

Young and old, individuals, family groups, came willingly to do their bit for the park . FOMP and CAL provided litter picks and gloves and some people brought their own. Teams spread out through the park and into the wooded areas. 

Photo: A Sheridan

Items found included plastic bottles, drinks cans, food wrappers and containers, which had been expected. Larger items included a clothes airer and a child's scooter. But also unfortunately a few nitrous oxide canisters were found in the woods and these were kept separate from the general litter bags. In total some 25 bags were filled.   

Photo: A Sheridan

How many people gave their time? 16 adults, 12 children and 3 dogs came to help out. Thank you to all those people. Below are photos of some volunteers.

Photo: Pippa Moss

Photo: Pippa Moss

Glendale sent one of their staff to remove all the bags. What a lovely, helpful man he was.

Photo: Pippa Moss

Photo: Pippa Moss

This proved to be a great multi-generational event, such as success, the first we have held for several years.  But it is sad to reflect that such events are needed up and down the country to keep our green spaces clean and safe for the community.

Pond for the orchard

 The Orchard Project and Froglife were keen that we enhance the orchard for wildlife by adding a pond. See The Orchard Project and Froglife here.

The plan was to create a small pond that would be part of the Blue Chain project which started in Spring 2024 and will continue for 3 years. 

With support from Eszter, Lewisham's Ecological Regeneration Manager, from Emily of Nature's Gym, and from Glendale managers, we agreed to locate the pond behind the orchard  to improve our developing wildlife area. Volunteers recently built a stag beetle loggery and there is a pile of felled trees from tree surgery last year. Together they form a clearing where previously it was a dense secondary woodland. 

Rose introduces the workday

The pond was built by a team of  ten hardworking volunteers on 20th March 2025, facilitated by Rose from Froglife and Lizzy from The Orchard Project. 

Lizzy planned this event to the last detail:  Underlay and pond liner had been purchased in advance.  The necessary tools were  provided. Sandwiches, snacks, hot and cold drinks arrived for lunch. 

Volunteers arrived. Everyone set to work to dig out the pond.

Work starts

Pond dug with shelving

Underlay and liner fitted carefully

The spoil dug out to make the pond was piled up to create a butterfly and bee bank, seeded with suitable wild flower seeds.

Butterfly and bee bank

What else? How to get water to fill the pond! There is no easily accessible water supply nearby but we overcame that problem thanks to support from a Glendale manager. (Glendale are the contractors who manage the park for Lewisham Council). 

We had arranged with a Glendale manager that a bowser of water would arrive when it was time to fill the pond. All went to plan. We will have to work out a water supply solution for the future.

Water supply to the pond

A final touch from volunteers was to roll a felled trunk down to the pond to create seating.

New seating for visitors to the pond

Some of the team

We were lucky with the weather, best described as wall-to-wall sunshine.

We received confirmation a few days later that our small pond will be part of the 100 London Blue Chain ponds project. 

Tool care 14th March 2025 workshop

 After all the orchard winter pruning, it was time to turn our attention to the tools we use  and their condition. Some of the secateurs and loppers we brought along were rather rusty and not as sharp as needed for a clean cut when pruning our orchard trees.

Gavin from The Orchard Project agreed to lead a workshop on tool maintenance. This took place on 14th March at the croquet club room. The ten people who attended were a mix of orchard volunteers from Mayow and other Lewisham orchards along with croquet club members, all keen to improve our tool care skills.

Gavin talked about the equipment  for cleaning and sharpening. He showed us how to take apart secateurs in a systematic way so that it can be put back together correctly. He showed us some of the many types of tool cleaning and oiling resources available commercially, some of which are more nature friendly than others. We learned about a lanolin-based oil which is made from sheep's wool and is more benign to plants. Most of us had previously heard of, or used, WD40.  But, looking at the ingredient list, we understood that it contains chemicals we should avoid in an organically-managed orchard. 

We were keen to practice our newly-learned skills though not everyone could stay for that.

Chatting at the end of the session and afterwards, we unanimously agreed it had been a very helpful session. We went home with lists of items to buy to get our tools back to their best. 

ORCHARD WINTER PRUNING Feb 2025

 February was cold, grey and wet but our fruit trees still need to be looked after.

Our pruning workshops in February proved popular. We talked about the tools we use,  why we prune apples and pears in winter but not stone fruit, which branches to prune first (dead, diseased, damaged) and how to open up the central branch network to allow light and air in. All participants are involved with community orchards. Here are some photos.

Hard hat protection

 

Goggles to protect eyes from saw dust

      

choosing where to prune

                        

Being taller can help

As the workshops were training sessions for participants, we couldn't finish all the pruning in the two sessions. Fortunately Frank came in early March and worked with Alona. They gave the remaining trees some formative pruning to clear crowded and crossing branches, as well as branches growing into the middle of  trees. Job done.

Nature's Gym by the orchard Nov 2024

 21st November 2024

Nature's Gym - their final session in Mayow Park was in an area behind the orchard where a large tree had been felled and the trunk left on the ground for wildlife. The felling also opened the space to sunlight where there had previously been deep shade.

The plan was to 

• enhance  the stag beetle loggery built a few weeks ago by adding more upright logs half buried in the ground

• drill holes in the tops of the logs to encourage solitary bees to nest

• clear away brambles encroaching into the orchard

• plant hedgerow whips to infill gaps at the hedgerow by the hard standing.

Jane and Donna got to work using a spade and an adze to dig a long trench and gather the prepared logs from the loggery that had been built a few weeks earlier.  

Jane also sawed some logs to different sizes. 

These logs will stand upright in the trench, part buried in the ground and gradually rot down. 

The rotting logs will  hopefully attract stag beetles to lay eggs which will  develop into larvae, munching through the wood for up to seven years before emerging as majestic stag beetles.

Emily brought a drill and sat on the ground to drill a series of holes in what would be the tops of the logs. 

Mike, Charles and Sue took on the task of cutting back the brambles. (No photos), collecting all the arisings and piling them up to create wildlife habitats.

Charles and Alona planted some whips in the gaps between the trees in the existing hedgerow.

The finished loggery (see below) - thank you Donna and Jane. 

We had tea and biscuits when the work was done and all equipment packed away. A  very enjoyable session.

An artistic member of the Friends of Mayow Park is in the process of designing an interpretation sign for the loggery and we hope to have it in a couple of weeks.